When: Saturday, starting at noon pirate time.Where: Everywhere!Jobbing contact: BipolarPay: matching highest island; pay will be the same at all islands.Sinking: No.Raffle: Yes, full prize list forthcoming. (There will be LE and renamed ships, ancient furniture, sleeping animals, a pony and more!)

George Santayana wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Jorvik is an island rich in historical significance to Midnight Ocean, and has great sentimental value to many. Do we really want to see it winterized ?

We urge anyone who cares about Jorvik and it's history to job for Bipolar tomorrow to prevent any possibility of a repeat of this incident. With Cleopatra's Pearls , we showed a commitment to preserve the beauty of Midnight Ocean's islands. We have once again been offered the opportunity to take a stand, this time at Jorvik.

Of course, Jorvik isn't the only island we have been called upon to defend. We anticipate that we will be stretched very thin in attempting to defend at each location, but we intend to do the best we can with what we have; we feel that anything less would disappoint. Of course, we can't do anything at all without jobbers, so we invite everyone to come join the party that will take place aboard our ships! Join our madness!

Also, we plan to offer some tournaments along the way, too, so don't miss the abundant fun, poe and prizes to be had! Please come job with Bipolar's defense!

I know some mates will be disappointed that I haven't recorded a nifty song parody for this blockade; I've been busy with my family and simply didn't have the time required to do one. But, I can't leave you without music, now, can I? So, in case you're aching to have a preview of the chaos and madness, I decided to actually compose a small piece of music . Think of this as a musical version of an editorial cartoon. It is meant to be played as a loop - set your MP3 player to repeat a single track when you listen for the full effect. (*)

(*) Here are my liner notes for this composition: This piece sounds the way it does because the lead line is played in the key of B, the left hand piano is playing in C, and the right hand on the piano is playing in C#. If all three were played in the same key it would sound almost normal, with a comical feel. This way, it's like a bad mental disease. Hence the title - the music is in conflict with itself, a form of Hypocrisy.

Thanks to all our wonderful jobbers! I hope you all had a great time, and I can't thank you enough for your support. All of you obtained automatic raffle tickets for your participation, and tomorrow we hope to have the raffle results posted. Here's a partial list of what you might find coming your way:

One ticket was allocated for every 10 minutes spent jobbing with us throughout the weekend's blockades. We don't sell tickets - jobbing for us is the only way to get hold of them! Thank you very much to all our jobbers.

Claim your prizes from Harrjm or Donsmythe. Prizes that haven't been picked up by the end of January will be raffled off again in the future!
----------------------------------------Anaplian, Shadow Riders, Midnight Ocean

Id like to publicly encourage you guys to rebuild the Explorer's Hall on Eta.Seems like one just isnt enough anymore and Ruby is probably the best option :)
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RedShadow - Cerulean

Pandora's Box just started construction of a temporary Explorers' Hall (Attractions Guide) on Park. It will stay open for 5 weeks to alleviate the demand for maps on one island and and as a thank you for all that supported us in today's blockade and in the past. Go take a job so it'll get finished faster, pay is 25/25/25! :)

P.S. No commodity spawns were harmed in the placing of this building. ;)
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Jsweetie of Midnight Cerulean

If an Explorer's Hall were placed in Ruby, on which island would people rather see it placed?

Maps are supposed to spawn on any of the routes leading from an island. Jorvik has three routes - two difficult, and one of medium difficulty. That might be good for catering to a wider variety of mates.

Eta has four routes; charts that it spawns would be quite spread out around Ruby, but many would be in very difficult waters. Some people complain that expeditions being close together is a stat killer, since you make all these short 1-league hops; Eta would have less of that. Luthien has four routes also, and one of them is very long, so that would get the charts the most spread of any Ruby location.

Other mates prefer to have all the expeditions clustered closely so there's a minimum of sailing - and placing an EH on Cranberry would provide a very tight clustering (but in very difficult waters). There's only one LP between Cranberry and Midsummer that can spawn a chart, and only two between Cran and Eta, so there's only three places a chart can spawn (theoretically, anyways).

Putting an EH on Midsummer would accomplish much the same thing as far as clustering the spawn points, but would require the black market there to be dusted first. (Since there's a BM on Zeta, dusting the one on Midsummer is an option, I suppose.) An EH at Midsummer would have much cheaper rent than anywhere else, too. The big downside is no shipyards on Midsummer, so the Midsummer-Olivia chart could cause mates a bit of pain if they don't have it memmed, since you can't just buy it like you can for the routes leading off of Cranberry.

So, as I see it, just choosing which Ruby island would be "best" for the EH needs to be decided first... I don't see a clear winner, and even "best" depends on what you want in the first place. If we can settle on a location, though, then we can all work together to find a way to get it done, assuming enough people want it.

I prefer to see the charts tightly clustered, myself, so I think I'd prefer to see it on Cranberry, and I'd go with Cranberry over Midsummer to get easy route chart availability. (I have everything memmed, but not everyone does. While Midsummer works fine for me, I don't like the idea of making things more difficult for mates that don't have Ruby memmed.) Yesterday, I did float the idea of putting one on Cranberry past Mousebeard. At least he didn't shoot it down immediately, so the possibility exists. But I'm curious to see what other mates would prefer before trying to set anything in motion.

Or maybe rebuild the one on Beta? Plenty of people pillage out of Ruby. Building at Beta would strengthening its economy and be a greater benefit to your flag. Besides that though there are only the 5 lps that the maps could spawn on. I believe that the same as TH and foraging expos there would be something that prevents them from spawning on lps that charts are not easily obtainable. (not sure) If not we can always ask Don to chart us ;)

I like the idea of an explorer's hall being in areas where pillaging isn't as common. It helps the shopkeepers in other areas have a more constant demand outside of when an Atlantis, HS, CI or Flotilla is near. I'm also partial to keeping the Black Market on Midsummer as the rent is cheap (7 to 9k range depending on the week) and its something we stated we would keep up.

I give it about two to three weeks before Viking interest dies down that we'll be in need of only 1 EH for the ocean again. I know my interest is already gone as I've achieved my goal of Illustrious Conqueror. Park's temporary hall will meet that need until the ocean moves onto its next trend. .
----------------------------------------YearbookCeruleanQueen of Crimson Tide

Eta would be my pick in Ruby. The maps would be in the arch -if I understood well how that works- and one could stay clear of the very red routes. I think Jorvik-Eta-Luthien is the route most ruby navers pillage on and Eta is in the center.
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Alniyat,Booching Blaggards -> http://dirac.dynalias.com/bb/

If the Fish Rumour Mongers had their way, we'd be dropping on everything.I dropped a plate the other day. Does that count?-- Missiep --
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[Edit 1 times,
last edit by Neonila at Jan 24, 2011 7:40:05 AM]

I'm really enjoying doing these viking missions. Its been a long time since something got me excited enough to stock ships. Its driving me nuts atm that the maps aren't more common. I have the feeling I'll be doing these for a while to come.

I'm not sure I would build another explorer's hall in Ruby. I like that the current one is in an arch where most of us do not spend the majority of our time normally. I think we should leave Ruby for the pillagers.
----------------------------------------JainaSolo, sheepish jediBlazeblade says, "you're talking to a SHEEP?"

I think we got it wrong. 10 IOs or 10vikings will get boring. Then people wont wanna go on them. I think there should be one in Ruby just cause the pillagers are there. I'd love the variety of having an IO and a viking expo in a 5 battle pilly. I'm not sure why we're doing them separate on Midnight (or if they're done otherwise on other oceans) but I believe it is for the lack of maps on the routes where one would pillage anyway (Ruby and Diamond).
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Alniyat,Booching Blaggards -> http://dirac.dynalias.com/bb/

If the Fish Rumour Mongers had their way, we'd be dropping on everything.I dropped a plate the other day. Does that count?-- Missiep --
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[Edit 1 times,
last edit by Neonila at Jan 24, 2011 8:06:08 AM]

Oooh. I like that idea. Right now I've been trying to save up some charts to make it worth loading up a ship for them; however, I wouldn't mind only having one chart if it was just to add on to a pillage (to break up the monotony of them).

Along those lines: Eta would make the most sense.
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Sprngweather & PicoryAvatar by the talented Sancha
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[Edit 1 times,
last edit by sprngweather at Jan 24, 2011 10:19:21 AM]

I'm with Alniyat as far as Vikings are concerned, these are the first expedition that actually blends in nicely with a pillage. Cranberry and Midsummer are too hard for a lot of people; Eta or Jorvik would be better places. Or down near Rhino-Lag or somewhere in Emerald for the lower end pillages.
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My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world. ~ Jack Layton

I think the best islands in Emerald would be Emperor (short routes, relatively cheap rent, on an easy route but close to a harder one) or Epsilon. Not sure if Epsilon is possible though.
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Sprngweather & PicoryAvatar by the talented Sancha
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[Edit 1 times,
last edit by sprngweather at Jan 24, 2011 10:29:43 PM]

I like the fact that people are here discussing locations where Explorers' Halls can be placed that would make it fun for other players. That's why Midnight rocks.
----------------------------------------Pomfret of Midnight Cerulean and Most OceansExcept when I am Scroogie or somebody elseStupid merger made me change my signature...